EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
These are the three pillars on which Ed Notes is founded – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We are part of a tiny band of resisters. Nothing will change unless YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Monday, January 14, 2013

MORE, Change the Stakes Support Garfield HS Teacher Test Resisters

Joint Tweed/UFT Firing Squad

A nationwide movement of creative insubordination may be
the only way to put a stop to the injustice now imposed on America’s
public schools, teachers and especially students." -- Adam Urbanski, President Rochester Teachers Union

Can you imagine the UFT supporting teachers here if they
led a test boycott here? They would assist the Tweedies in choosing the firing
squad.I'll tell you more at another time of my tweeting war with Randi and Leo over whether the UFT really opposes high stakes testing. {Hey guys, I'm waiting for AFT/UFT messages of support to these teachers. Ho hum, better not wait too long.}

Fred Smith from Change the Stakes commented:

The revolution is near. Time to dump all of the T in the
harbor... Examinations and privatization without representation are
tyranny. The colonies are feeling it.

Meanwhile, the UFT--which has denied its rank and file a voice in the
matter and has stood in the way of an organized, mutually-empowering parent
alliance--is now ready to compromise with its demonizers and bashers.
While the movement to oppose high stakes testing is on the march, the union is
conspiring to subject its members to test-polluted teacher evaluations.

Two pieces of advice to the so-called UFT leadership: Lead,
follow or get the hell out of the way. And recognize what Walt Kelly
(Pogo) said. "We have met the enemy and it is us."

Since then the response has made heroes out of the teachers, who will undoubtedly face serious repercussions.

Susan Ohanian suggests:

I don't usually sign or share Change petitions because of some of their
past hijinks. But the Garfield teachers in Seattle are using Change for
their petition, so I'm urging everyone to sign it. They need hundreds
of thousands of signatures supporting them. This is not a high stakes
test but saying NO! is a huge step for teachers. Let's scare
Obama-Duncan and Bill Gates by showing that there are seeds of
resistance out there. http://tinyurl.com/apvf7bg

Can you imagine the UFT supporting teachers here if they did that here? They would assist the Tweedies in choosing the firing squad.

Ravitch posted this on the resistance:

Adam Urbanski, head of the Rochester (NY) Teachers Union, offers this advice:

"In
his letter from the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King wrote, 'There
are just laws and unjust laws. And we are obligated to disobey the
unjust laws.' A nationwide movement of creative insubordination may be
the only way to put a stop to the injustice now imposed on America’s
public schools, teachers and especially students."

MORE used its meatgrinder approach (where a number of people get to chip in) to forge this statement:

11JanStatement from the Movement of Rank and File Educators, The Social Justice Caucus of the UFT (United Federation of Teachers)In Solidarity with Garfield H.S. Teachers

We, the members of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) stand in solidarity with the teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle who are refusing to administer standardized tests this semester. Risking their own livelihoods to stand up for authentic teaching and learning and against the proliferation of high-stakes standardized testing, they are fighting for teachers, educators, parents and, students nationwide. All over this country, teachers and students are frustrated, demoralized, and bored by the increasing pressure to raise standardized test scores and to equate those scores with learning. All of the “data” generated by these tests have become a stick to beat students, teachers, and unions, and have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. We agree with the teachers of Garfield High School that these tests represent a profound waste of time and money, especially while too many of our schools are starved of basic resources. We stand in solidarity with these brave educators, and encourage parents, teachers and students nationwide to support them as well.

We, the members of Change The Stakes stand in solidarity with the teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle who are refusing to administer standardized, high-stakes tests to their students as they see these as a "waste of time and money". Teachers at Garfield High School are setting an example for other teachers and parents to rally against these tests that have been, and continue, to distort education for our children and the stability of the teaching profession. It is clear that the feelings here in New York about these tests are felt nation-wide. As parents and teachers of Change The Stakes we are grateful for your courage and we share your struggle. May more teachers and parents take the stand against these standardized measures that have only created fear of school by students and teachers.

The Garfield High School PTSA issued the following statement today in support of the teachers:

From the Garfield High School PTSA Board Members

Written by President, Phil SherburneYou may have seen in the news that the Garfield teachers have decided that they are no longer going to give the MAP tests to 9th grade students at Garfield. These are tests that are given three times during the 9th grade year to assess a student’s performance level in reading and math and their progress during the course of the year. These tests have nothing to do with a student’s grades or their progress toward graduation. The test results are just information for the teachers and the school district.However, because the tests have no consequences for the student, many students do not take them seriously. As a result the test results do not really measure a student’s knowledge level. Teachers also object because the tests are not connected to what is being taught in the classroom and they take up a lot of time. Further, the teachers are concerned that the test results might be used to evaluate teachers which they believe would be inappropriate. The teachers believe that the grades the students are earning in the classroom are much better measures of the student’s knowledge level and educational progress.The Garfield PTSA shares the concerns of the teachers at Garfield with the MAP testing and supports termination of these tests. There are many students who start the 9th grade who cannot perform 9th grade level math and english work. Some students are far behind. The real issue is what the school district is going to do, starting early in a student’s educational life, to help as many students as possible perform at grade level. A major effort to get students to grade level performance and to keep them there through graduation requires a focus and resources that we have not seen from the District or the Legislature. It is this focus on improving student achievement and providing the resources to accomplish it that deserves all our attention.

In the statement, SEA President Jonathan Knapp said he wants the district to set a date to stop using the MAP exams. He also said that concerns over those tests are part of larger questions about the costs of testing, and how much time schools devote to it.The union listed its concerns as follows:

The test does not line up with state standards.

The test does not line up with district curriculum.

The test takes valuable time away from student learning.

Many students do not take the test seriously.

The testing time frame takes valuable time away from students in the school being able to access computer labs and libraries for other projects.

The data obtained is of minimal use to teachers in planning lessons and meeting individual student needs.

---------------

Standardized test backlash: Some Seattle teachers just say 'no'

Resistance to standardized tests has been simmering for years, but now a group of Seattle teachers is in open revolt. No longer will they administer the tests, they say, citing a waste of public resources.

Forty-five minutes after school let out Thursday afternoon, 19 teachers here at Seattle's Garfield High School
worked their way to the front of an already-crowded classroom, then
turned, leaned their backs against the wall of whiteboards, and fired
the first salvo of open defiance against high-stakes standardized
testing in America's public schools.
To a room full of TV cameras, reporters, students, and colleagues, the teachers announced their refusal to administer a standardized test that ninth-graders across the district are mandated to take in the first part of January. Known as the MAP test – for Measures of Academic Progress – it is intended to evaluate student progress and skill in reading and math.
First
one teacher, then another, and then more stepped forward to charge that
the test wastes time, money, and dwindling school resources. It is also
used to evaluate teacher quality.
“Our teachers
have come together and agreed that the MAP test is not good for our
students, nor is it an appropriate or useful tool in measuring
progress,” said Kris McBride, academic dean and testing coordinator at
Garfield High. “Additionally, students don’t take it seriously. It
produces specious results and wreaks havoc on limited school resources
during the weeks and weeks the test is administered.”
RECOMMENDED: Are you as well read as the average 10th grader?
Garfield’s
civil yet disobedient faculty appears to be the first group of teachers
nationally to defy district edicts concerning a standardized test, but
the backlash against high-stakes testing has been percolating in other
parts of the country.

The New York State Principals association recently issued a scathing letter, nearly four pages of “unintended negative consequences” it claims such tests foment.

In Maryland, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr has called for a three-year moratorium on standardized testing.

In north Texas
last year, superintendents of several high-performing school districts
signed a letter to state officials and lawmakers saying high-stakes
standardized testing is “strangling our public schools.” As of Jan. 8,
880 districts that educate more than 4.4 million Texas students have
adopted a resolution opposing these tests.

“This high-stakes testing – there needs to be a moratorium on it, because it’s out of control,” says Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, Long Island,
N.Y. “None of these tests really have anything to do with curriculum.
Maybe they have a little bit to do with math. But that’s it.”

Dr. Burris co-authored the letter for the New York State
principals. On Dec. 31, she started a petition in New York opposing
high-stakes testing. In 10 days, she says, 5,500 administrators,
teachers, and parents have signed it.
“Parents are
stressed. Teachers are stressed. Kids are stressed by these tests more
than parents,” Burris says. “And when you tie teachers’ evaluations to
these tests, the teachers end up focusing their lessons on the tests.
And that’s starting to destroy elementary education.”

At Montgomery County Public Schools, America’s 17th largest district, Dr. Starr says the conflicting demands of the No Child Left Behind Act and the emerging Common Core State Standards Initiative (sanctioned by 46 states and the District of Columbia) are overwhelming districts, teachers, and resources.

“It’s
not because I’m opposed to all standardized testing. Standardized tests
do have a place,” he says. “But more and more folks are starting to
recognize these standardized tests are not designed to do what we’re
being asked to do with them. They’re a very narrow measure.”

Starr
says many standardized tests detract from teachers’ ability to prepare
students effectively: “This isn’t about saying, ‘Do away with all
standardized testing.’ It’s about saying, ‘Do away with tests that are
not aligned with what kids will actually need to do in the 21st
century.’ ”
Starr’s words could well have been uttered here at Garfield.

“In
26 years of teaching,” says Kit McCormack, who teaches English, “this
is the first time I’ve said, ‘I’m not giving this test.’ It’s not that I
think my ninth-graders should not be tested. I want my ninth-graders to
be tested. I teach to the Common Core standards, and I am happy to
teach those standards. Bottom line is: The test is not useful to my
students.”
Ms. McBride, the academic dean, said Garfield teachers “have a myriad of reasons for not administering the MAP
test,” including “no evidence” the test is aligned with state and local
curriculum, that it’s “filled with things that aren’t a part of the
curriculum at all,” and that the district uses student test scores to
grade teachers, even though the company that markets the test says it
should not be used to assess teacher effectiveness.
“We
really think our teachers are making the right decision,” said student
body president Obadiah Stephens-Terry. “I know when I took the test, it
didn’t seem relevant to what we were studying in class – and we have
great classes here at Garfield. I know students who just go through the
motions when taking the test, just did it as quickly as possible so they
could do something more useful with their time.”
When
someone asked the teachers if they were worried about what lessons
students might take away from their collective defiance of the district,
Mario Shauvette, chairman of the math department, stepped forward. “I’m
teaching by example,” he said. “If I don’t step up now, who will? I’m
taking charge of what I do here.”
Officials from Seattle Public Schools refused to discuss the faculty’s announcement, but it issued a three-paragraph e-mail that included a general admonition: “Seattle Public Schools expects our teachers to administer all required tests, pursuant to our policies and procedures.”Seattle
school officials say the MAP test, which is given as many as three
times per year, "helps improve academic decision-making and
accountability." Moreover, district officials say they are reviewing the
effectiveness of the MAP program, including input from teachers and
principals, and expect to report results this spring.

The
teachers know they’re violating district policy, as well as their union
contract. They realize consequences could be severe. “But the people
down at district headquarters are wise people, good people,” said
history teacher Jesse Hagopian. “We all want what’s best for our
students, and the faculty here is confident we can work together and
come up with ways of evaluating our kids that are a lot more effective
than this test.”

------

FairTest
National
Center
for
Fair & Open Testing

for
further information:

Dr.
Monty Neill (617)
477-9792

Bob
Schaeffer (239)
395-6773

for immediate release Monday,
January 14, 2013

NATIONAL
ASSESSMENT
REFORM LEADERS ENDORSE

SEATTLE
TEACHERS’
SCHOOL TEST BOYCOTT;

CALL
FOR MORE EDUCATORS,
PARENTS TO “JOIN IN”

The country’s
leading testing
reform organization today announced its support for the boycott
of Seattle Public
Schools’ Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) exam launched by
teachers at
Garfield High School. National Center for Fair & Open
Testing (FairTest)
Executive Director Dr. Monty Neill said, “Children across the
U.S. suffer from
far too much standardized testing that is misused to judge
students, teachers
and schools. We applaud Garfield High educators who refused to
administer these
useless exams and urge others to join in.”

Dr. Neill
explained, “Seattle requires
administration of the MAP tests three times per year. This
eliminates days of
valuable teaching time and ties up the school’s computer labs
for weeks. The
tests are used to judge teachers even though they are not
aligned with the
state’s standards and not instructionally helpful. The Northwest
Evaluation
Association, which makes the test, says the MAPs are not
accurate enough to
evaluate individual teachers. No wonder some Seattle parents
began opting their
children out of these pointless tests even before the teachers’
boycott.”

“Nationally, students are inundated with
tests far beyond
the ‘No Child Left Behind’ (NCLB) requirement to assess students
annually in
reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school,” Dr.
Neill continued. “States
and especially large city districts have piled on many more
tests. For example,
Chicago tests kindergarteners 14 or more times per year. Many of
these tests
were added to obtain federal NCLB waivers, which force states
and districts to impose
more exams so they can judge teachers by student scores.”

According to FairTest, the high stakes
attached to tests
have led to narrowing curriculum, teaching to the test, score
inflation and
cheating scandals. Despite the focus on tests, scores gains on
the independent
National Assessment of Educational Progress have slowed since
the 2002 start of
NCLB and are well below pre-NCLB score increases. Score gaps
between whites and
African Americans and Latinos have stopped narrowing.

“High-stakes testing is undermining the
quality of U.S.
schools and the education our children deserve,” Dr. Neill
concluded. “Teachers
and parents who boycott standardized exams are taking the lead
to reduce
over-testing and the consequences attached to it. President
Obama, Education Secretary
Arne Duncan, the Congress, governors, state legislators, and
local school
officials need to heed these voices and stop imposing
unnecessary and
educational harmful testing.”

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UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

7 weeks Old - Nov. 2011

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Premiere "Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman"

Class Bias, Class Size and Online Learning

Good Article on Value-Added

Interesting commentary on Bloomberg Model

"The Bloomberg model has positioned parents as customers, and principals as CEOs, with student outcomes as the product. But the backlash that the mayor has faced is from parents who don't see their schools that way. Test scores aren't always what parents care most about in a school. Many care just as much about having teachers they can connect with, places they and their children feel comfortable and respected, a school's history in the community—things that aren't quantifiable o a standardized exam."

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

Leonie Haimson on MSNBC

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Harlem $ucce$$ Academy Ad

Weingarten Sellout Tour Continues

With the myriad of anti-teacher crap pervading the headlines, AFT President Randi Weingarten thinks it's a good time to discuss faster ways to fire us.

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Why did Waiting for Superman get snubbed and Exit Through the Gift Shop get nommed?

Davis Guggenheim’s doc about poor kids and charter schools got 11 major film award nominations and won four, including the National Board of Review and Sundance Audience Prize. Most pundits thought it a shoo-in. He won an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, and had major help from Bill Gates, Oprah and Obama. Some fear prankster Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop is all a hoax.

Why it happened: Guggenheim’s big backers may have actually irked independent-minded Academy members. Worse, his teacher’s union-bashing film was embraced by conservatives, one of whom said his Oscar snub is “the price a political apostate pays in Hollywood for straying off the liberal plantation.” Education expert Diane Ravitch trashed it as inaccurate. A more dispassionate expert says, “The first response to the movie was that it’s about poor black kids, and it’s from the Gore guy, so it must be liberal and good-hearted. And then Ravitch and others portrayed it as basically right-wing propaganda, which unsettled the liberal members of the Academy. I don’t think the movie is as reactionary as Ravitch portrayed it, but I also don’t think it’s very good.” An Oscar doc voter agrees. “It was a great deal of hype. I felt like I’d seen the story before.” “It also tanked at the box office, relative to what was spent on promoting it,” adds the education expert. “The true unforgivable sin in Hollywood!”

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Norm on the radio at "The Mind of a Bronx Teacher"

I was asked to cover for a guest too chicken to appear by Bronx Teacher on his penetrating weekly internet radio show (every Tuesday night at 9pm).

"The union has consistently been giving back since 1968."

He asked some great questions and I had a chance to get into issues in terms of historical context of the UFT - the '68 strike, the '75 massive cuts to schools and other issues to help prove my point that Randi Weingarten DID NOT CHANGE DIRECTION but continued and amplified the policies set in motion by Al Shanker.

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

An Oldie But Goodie: The Disparity Gap

Charter Schools and Tracking

Thanks for getting this posting some of the air it deserves, Norm.I think ceolaf is right about a great number of things, and particularly appreciate his systemic, meta-view of these hot button issues.

I want to substantiate a few of the points raised in this post:

1. "Charterness" is not a condition for school innovation.

Just as the reverse is not true(a a charter school is by definition innovative), public schools that are NOT charters can be innovative.The original small schools movement of the late 80's and early 90's (now coopted and transformed by Gates/DoE)spawned a number of pedagogically innovative schools.In District One, educators, administrators and community members started a handful of still popular and sucessful small schools within schools to pull back the fleeing local residents into public schools.Those Dewey-based, child-centered schools offered curriculae based on whole language, constructivist math, mixed age groupings, integrated curriuculum projects and portfolio evaluation

2. Tracking on a large scale does indeed exist.Gifted and Talented and CTT programs are used as sorting hats that are increasing racial isolation in many schools and communities.I would like to be able to substantiate this trend in the latest round of admissions, but as usual, have no access to that data from DoE yet (believe me I try)!

3. Special Ed service availability is, as ceolaf suspects, one more way to segregate and track:The two (soon to be 3) charter schools serving the District One community offer NO CTT or self contained classes.The "other public" district schools operate with plenty of both (w/ the exception of a few elite schools- a citywide K-12th G and T , a "dual language" Manadarin pre-k through 8th grade program and an elite selective HS), yet the charters offer no more than SETTS services to students.Despite the rhetoric of least restrictive environments and innovative methods for servicing students with special needs that you may hear from the OCS patricians, parents with kids with IEPs that require more services or more restrictive environments know that they need not apply to these schools.

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.